National Herald case: YI asked to deposit Rs 10 crore in IT case

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Monday directed Young Indian Pvt Ltd, in which Congress president Rahul Gandhi and his mother Sonia Gandhi are major stakeholders, to deposit Rs 10 crore in the Rs 249.15 crore income tax proceedings against it.

A bench of Justices S Ravindra Bhat and AK Chawla directed the company -- earlier summoned along with Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi as an accused by a trial court in the National Herald misappropriation of assets case -- to deposit half the amount with the Income Tax department before March 31 and the remaining by April 15.

The high court said subject to deposit of the amount, the tax authorities shall not enforce the demand of Rs 249.15 crore made on the company for the assessment year 2011-12.

The high court also sought the I-T department's response on Young Indian's (YI) plea challenging the demand and the proceedings emanating from it and listed the

matter for further hearing on April 24.

YI, which was incorporated in November 2010 with a capital of Rs 50 lakh, had acquired almost all the shareholding of Associated Journal Ltd (AJL), the owner of the National Herald newspaper.

Senior advocate Arvind Datar, appearing for YI, told the court that it will have extreme difficulty in raising Rs 10 crore and sought that the amount be fixed at Rs 7.5 crore.

He said the amount was being collected from contributions by individuals and it would therefore be tough to get more money.

He also urged the bench to allow the company to deposit the amount in court, saying it was extremely difficult to get a refund from the I-T department.

Advocate Ashish Jain, representing the I-T department, opposed the oral pleas made on YI's behalf and said the company had to actually deposit Rs 49 crore, 20 per cent of the demand, for its appeal to be heard.

The bench refused to grant both the pleas made orally on behalf of YI and directed it to deposit Rs 10 crore with the I-T department.

The amount was required to be deposited if YI's appeal against the demand was to be heard by the I-T authorities.